When the weight of the items to be moved is not provided, we as riggers, need to be able to calculate the weight based on the geometry of the item being moved. In order to do this we need to be able to calculate the area and the volume of objects. Let’s begin with calculating the area of objects. If we wanted to calculate the area of a rectangular sheet of metal, we would use the formula for calculating the area of a rectangle as shown below. This formula states that the area of a rectangle is equal to the multiplication of it’s length and width, or A, =l times w, where L, is the length of the longer side of the rectangle, and W, is the length of the smaller side of the rectangle. For a sheet of metal that is of a triangular shape, we would use the formula to calculate the area of a triangle as shown below. This formula states that the area of a triangle is equal to the multiplication of it’s base and height, divided by 2 or A, = b, times h, divided by 2
Where B, is the length of the base of the triangle, and H, is the length of the perpendicular height of the triangle
